Quality of online news reporting of suicidal behavior in Myanmar

Abstract

Background: Media reporting of suicide has an essential role in the suicidal behavior of the general population. Aims: The aim of this study is to assess the quality of online news reports of suicidal behavior in Myanmar against the World Health Organization (WHO) reporting guidelines. Methods: We performed a content analysis of all available suicide-related news reports published in vernacular online newspapers of Myanmar. Results: A total of 285 reports were analyzed, consisting of 87.4% suicides and 12.6% nonfatal suicidal attempts. Potentially, harmful information reported in the text includes the methods of suicide (100%), the word or term in Burmese related to suicide (89.5%), the name of the person (56.5%), life event (50.5%), and photo or suicidal person (17.9%). Meanwhile, helpful information such as prevention programs and the contact information for suicide services to the readers have been infrequently reported. Conclusion: The study found that the newspaper reporting of suicide in Myanmar is grossly nonadherent to the WHO media guidelines.

Newspaper reporting of suicide in Nepal: Quality assessment against World Health Organization media guidelines

“…The findings of this study correspond to the reviews that assessed the quality of media reporting of suicide in South‐East Asia 11,12 . The low adherence to WHO guidelines and sensational presentation of suicides have been consistently found in other Asian counties also 7,15–26 . One of the studies in India reported gender as the most common identity reported by the newspaper both in the title and main text 24 .…”

“…[27][28][29] In contrast to potentially harmful characteristics, potentially helpful characteristics like providing hope to readers were less focused, which is comparable to the study findings from India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Bhutan, Myanmar, and Thailand. 12,[15][16][17]30,31 Apart from rarely mentioning educative information on suicide prevention, suicide linkage with mental illness, substance abuse, warning signs, and other potentially helpful reporting characteristics encouraged in the WHO guideline were not identified. Nothing was mentioned about supportive helpline/hotline information for the people with suicidal thoughts, which is similar to the study findings from Bangladesh.…”

“…11,12 The low adherence to WHO guidelines and sensational presentation of suicides have been consistently found in other Asian counties also. 7,[15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26] One of the studies in India reported gender as the most common identity reported by the newspaper both in the title and main text. 24 The minute reporting of cause and steps of suicide is found to be reported in this study, which can be potentially harmful to readers.…”

“…We checked both potentially harmful and helpful characteristics as per the WHO guidelines. The instrument has already been used in various studies in different countries like Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, and Thailand 13–17 . Potentially harmful characteristics include name, age, sex of the deceased, place, mode, attributed cause, pictorial presentation of suicide, life event related to suicide, and a suicide note.…”

“…The instrument has already been used in various studies in different countries like Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, and Thailand. [13][14][15][16][17] Potentially harmful characteristics include name, age, sex of the deceased, place, mode, attributed cause, pictorial presentation of suicide, life event related to suicide, and a suicide note. Whereas potentially helpful information targeting the prevention like help-seeking behavior and services were extracted as outcome variables.…”